Physics at the LHC

The CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) presents the most extraordinary challenges that particle physics has ever faced. By colliding high-intensity proton beams at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, it will unveil the previously unexplored territory of the TeV scale in great detail. We survey the fundamental physics questions which the LHC is expected to address, and illustrate the physics potential with several examples from a very broad programme. Comparisons with results from current experiments and with the potential of future machines are also made for some key cases.